Families must talk to boost organ donation

All Australian families must discuss organ donation to help lift the nation's lowly donor rate, advocates say.

Just 1001 people across Australia received donated organs in 2011, thanks to a total of 337 donors, health department figures show.

Victorian Health Minister David Davis said about 1600 Australians were currently on the organ transplant waiting list, and many died waiting in vain for matching organs and tissues.

Speaking at the Victorian launch of DonateLife Week on Sunday, Mr Davis said the week was a chance for all families to talk about their wishes for organ donation in the event of a family member's sudden death. "A single donor can save or improve up to 10 lives," he said.

Australia had a rate of 14.9 donors per million people in 2011, Mr Davis said.

Outspoken radio broadcaster Derryn Hinch, who received a life-saving liver transplant last year, said while he was "bloody lucky" to be alive, the nation's rate of organ donation was "appalling".

"We are among the worst in the western world," Hinch said at the launch.

"Unless you all get involved and talk to your families and talk to your kids, it isn't going to happen."

Margaret Bland, whose son David died suddenly of a cerebral edema - the excess accumulation of water in the brain - aged 14 in 2006, said her family's decision to donate his organs had helped five patients. "Knowing David, we believe that he would've said something like, `If I couldn't use my organs anymore, why wouldn't I give them to somebody else,'" she said.

The Bland family helped to produce a new DVD which tells the stories of families who have been benefited from organ and tissue donations.

Mr Davis said a parliamentary inquiry exploring ways to increase organ donation in Victoria was expected to report in coming months.